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New Players Guide to Divinity: Original Sin 2
The guide is not completed as of yet, however it should provide enough general information to get you started. Terms If you are new to RPGs or games in general really, here are some terms you may see used and what they mean if you don't know. * DPS = Damage per second. Anything using this term is relating to damage taken or dealt. * Tank = Character whose main focus is to absorb damage. * Caster = The character using an ability, also can refer to mage characters. * Hotbar = The bar at the bottom of your screen that has all the skills and items on it. * DOTs = Damage Over Time. Abilities that inflict damage over multiple turns or buffs that buff over several turns. * AOE = Area of Effect Character Creation Selecting a Character The first thing you'll do when you start up a new game is choose who you'll play as; these character options come down to Sebille a female Elf, The Red Prince a male Lizard, Ifan ben-Mezd a male human, Lohse a female human, Beast a Male Dwarf, Fane a Human Male Undead (The use of human and undead is to say he is an undead that has the body of a human, undeads can also be the other races too.) and finally a blank slate character that is completely custom. Each of them has their own unique backgrounds, stories, history and interactions with the world and it's inhabitants. Many of their stories will collide with each other's at certain points, like when interacting with an NPC they may debate on who will speak to the person first and sometimes depending on who talked to them first there may be consequences for the following speakers, so knowing their motives beforehand could be vital. The custom character acts more like a make your own adventure and allows you choices that the pre-made characters may not have, it also allows for more customization than you'll get with a pre-made. If you choose to play as one of the pre-made characters the remaining pre-mades will show up in your world as party members to recruit. Choosing a race to play Humans Humans are an all around balanced race like in any game, they don't excel at anything, but are also good at everything. With their bonus in Leadership and their ability Encourage they make for good front or middle line supports/fighters/tanks. Lizards Lizards excel at caster roles such as Wizards, Witches and Enchanters due to their innate Intelligence boost due to Sophisticated, they also have Spellsong which grants them a free Persuasion point. The Lizard race has an ability called Dragon's Blaze which is a low cost, low damage, cone shaped fire surface. Dwarves Dwarves get an innate bonus to Strength and Sneaking, they make for powerful Fighters or Knights and along with their innate ability Metamorph, which allows them to turn a target into stone via Petrification Dwarfs make for great warriors or tanks, they also get a sneaking bonus, but a warrior role seems better suited to them. Elves Elves are tall, lanky creatures that present themselves more as folks made of wood or forest materials rather than the common Elf you see in fantasy. They have strong abilities like Corpse Eater which allows them to consume specific body parts sometimes that grants them abilities for free. They also have Flesh Sacrifice which is a nice damage and AP boost at the cost of some Constitution. Undead The Undead are the last race to be revealed and present a unique challenge to players. Among those challenges are the fact that if you do not cover their bodies with armor of some type they will scare non-undeads and cause local law enforcement to attack you, non-guards will most likely just run from you, but it isn't worth risking it. The other challenge they present is they cannot be healed in the typical way, healing potions and spells damage them instead and in their place poison heals them; so you can walk into a poison surface or gas or even chug a poisoned health potion and it'll heal you. The Undeads gameplay changes the strategy of the whole game for the player using it and it is inadvisable to attempt to play them without having at least a minor understanding of the mechanics of the game, the game itself will even warn you that your experience will be dramatically different compared to playing as a humanoid race. Tags If you have selected to play as a custom character you will need to select your character's tags. Tags help define who a character is and how they interact with things and people in the world. Below your character's class selection you will see a box that says Tags, under it is another box that has a few empty spaces along with two tags already filled out that state the character you are and race. Select manage and this will take you to a list of tags to select. They are the following. * Soldier * Scholar * Noble * Barbarian * Jester * Mystic * Outlaw Tags most often interact with dialogue from NPCs and can assist you in getting new information, I suggest you try talking to NPCs using multiple characters in your party as they can use their tags to get more information if it is applicable to the NPC you are interacting with. Class Selection Now you will want to choose what class you want to play as, please know that classes are merely templates, with adding points elsewhere during leveling you can be anything you want, however classes do dictate starting stats and skills so you should pick something you will want to build into. I will break down the classes here in an info box to help you get an idea of what they are and you can follow the links to learn more. Stat Adjustment DoS2 uses a fairly simple stat system made up of the following categories. Strength, Finesse, Intelligence, Constitution, Memory and Wits. For more details click the stat to go to the stat's page. For the shorter version here is how the stats work. Strength - Determines damage dealt with Strength weapons such as Greatswords, Hammers, Axes, Swords and provides a bonus to Physical Armor. Finesse - Determines damage dealt with Finesse weapons such as Daggers, Bows and Crossbows, also provides a bonus to Dodging. Intelligence - Determines magical damage and bonus to Magical Armor. Constitution - How much health aka Vitality you have. Memory - How many spells/abilities you can store in your memory. Spells that aren't stored cannot be cast, but can freely be swapped outside battle. Wits - Critical chance and initiative, also helps detect traps and treasure. Abilities Abilities are broken into two categories Combat and Civil. Combat abilities determines your proficiency in any given stat relating to combat, such as Ranged or Two-Handed. Raising them will give you bonuses like more damage with weapons related to that type or a bonus to dodge. Civil abilities determine your ability to interact with NPCs using Persuasion and Bartering; Lucky Charm can increase the rarity of loot you find; Loremaster allows you to identify items; Telekinesis allows you to grab things from a distance; Sneak makes it easier to move unnoticed by NPCs and Thievery lets you steal more items from NPCs along with pick locked doors and chests. You are awarded Combat points every level and Civil points every (currently unknown) level. Learn more about Attributes and Abilities here. Talent Selection Talents are varied in their effects, some give you more resistances while lowering others, some introduce new mechanics to think about when engaging combat situations. The list of talents is fairly large. Gathering your party Divinity: Original Sin 2 has 6 companions. Check out their individual pages for specific locations and other information. * The Red Prince * Ifan ben-Mezd * Lohse * Fane * Beast * Sebille Note that as of v3.0.31.292 on 2/2/2017 we may now select what class the companions should be upon recruitment of them, thus you should pick the companions you want because you like them and not because of necessity, this also allows more flexibility when creating your own character as you will not run into the problem of missing out on a key role. Combat and using the environment to your advantage Combat in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a simple turn based system where each character will be placed in order against the enemy depending on their Wits, the higher Wits is the better chance you will move before the enemies can. You have a limited number of moves per turn depending on your Action Points, these can be seen at the bottom of the screen and will have a max of 6, you will almost always start with 4. These can be modified using certain abilities like Haste. Abilities have a required amount of Action Points that it will cost to use them during that turn and after their usage they will be placed on cooldown, meaning they cannot be used again until that timer is up. Having filler skills for the downtime of your big hitter skills is important. Status Effects Status effects are much like they are in most games, however, in DoS2 inspecting your environment and making use of status inducing abilities are one of the key aspects of combat compared to the usual one stun and burst down. Below you can see a list of statuses, what causes them and how they interact with other things. Environmental Effects Environmental effects cover a wide range of things. There are a great many ways to create, clear and make use of environmental effects in DoS2, many of which are from spells and consumable equipment like bombs and arrows. To gloss over a few we have Fire surfaces, Water surfaces, Poison surfaces, Oil surfaces, Ice surfaces, Smoke surfaces, etc. and each with their own special properties, uses and sources. Lets go over some of the most common you will encounter. Fire surfaces in my opinion are the most common as they are produced by basically anything that has a fire effect. They cause burning on targets and interact very nastily with Poison and Oil surfaces by creating massive explosions (poison surfaces) or spreading rapidly into a large area with Oil surface. They can be put out by a Water surface, spells like Rain or ice spells can put them out. Water surfaces, the second most common, created by spells like Rain or water kegs being destroyed. These water surfaces can put out fire surfaces and spread water surfaces, but at the cost of soaking everything nearby turning the surface into an electric playground. Casting most Aerothurge spells at anything inside the water surface will cause an Electrified surface which stuns anything inside of it until the surface is destroyed. This applies to weapons with an electric damage type, like wand's basic attacks. Oil surfaces will slow any characters inside raising the AP cost of moving dramatically and most importantly setting up a prime area for a massive Fire surface which can decimate your party or the enemies, very quickly. Poison surfaces alone are not the most deadly, the poison is more an irritant, but in combination with a Fire surface it is, if only barely, the second most deadly surface combination. Fire and Poison create an explosion that can wipe out a whole party in one sweep and if it doesn't kill them in one go it will Poison and set them aflame with hardly a sliver of Hitpoints left. Kegs You'll often come across kegs laying around some places, on most occasions they indicate an encounter is possible or likely in the area and they are there for you or your enemy to make use of. These can vary in what they contain, but the most often you'll see are Oil, Water and Poison. As of the AI 2.0 patch enemies now clearly recognize and seek to use kegs against the player's party, with this in mind you should stop and analyze what barrels are where and decide to eliminate them before the fight, re-position them for your benefit or remove them from battle completely. Kegs can turn the tide of fights for or against you and should never be ignored under any circumstance. They can also be taken with you and used at a later time, although they weigh around 60 kg and can take up to a quarter of a characters carrying weight. Elevation Being higher up than an enemy can grant benefits like increased damage and longer range for spells and abilities. Enemies may also not be able to get to you or have to spend their turn to get to you. Being lower than the opposition can also block pathing for spells and attacks, it also decreases the damage by 20%. You can raise your range and damage by investing into Huntsman. Example of line of sight being broken. Example of low ground. Example of high ground. Category:Divinity: Original Sin 2 gameplay